"
His sharp, impatient manner, and the sight of twenty people all standing
round staring at me, quite upset me, and I could only stammer out a
few unintelligible words, feeling that my face was blushing scarlet
to the very roots of my hair.
"Let me tell you, General," said Alday, advancing.
"No, no," said the General; "he shall speak."
The sight of Alday so eager to give his version of the affair first
restored my anger to me, and with that came back the power of speech
and the other faculties which I had lost for a moment.
"Sir General, all I have to say is this," I said; "I came to this man's
house at night, a stranger, lost, on foot, for my horse had been stolen
from me. I asked him for shelter in the belief that at least the one
virtue of hospitality still survives in this country. He, assisted by
these two men, treacherously disabled me with a blow on my arm and
dragged me here a prisoner."
"My good friend," said the General, "I am extremely sorry that you
have been hurt through an excess of zeal on the part of one of my
people. But I can scarcely regret this incident, painful as it seems,
since it enables me to assure you that one other virtue besides
hospitality still survives in the Banda Oriental--I mean gratitude."
"I do not understand you," I said.
"We were companions in misfortune a very short time ago," he returned.
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